


Let's Learn to Breathe

by TheAzureFox



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: F/M, Post canon, considering canon facts anyways, i think i wrote this before the show ended, so some things are probably a bit off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 19:22:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16046945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAzureFox/pseuds/TheAzureFox
Summary: In which Yuya and Yuzu each have to deal with three people living inside their minds.





	Let's Learn to Breathe

**Author's Note:**

> This was an old fanfic I apparently completed but forgot about and only found again recently. I'm not sure why I didn't post it before considering it's been finished for...two years, I think, but here it is anyways lol
> 
> Edit: *also used wrong title for this fanfic rip so it's changed now

The first thing Yuzu notices is that she feels _whole_.

It’s strange, really, having your own conscious blended together with three others. Yuzu never thought that she could stand it, all the voices chattering away in her head. However, much to her own disbelief, having three other girls inside her body makes her feel complete.

It’s not like when she was just Yuzu. When she was just Yuzu, she was complete but in a much different way than she was now. Yuzu was a girl who lived in the Pendulum Dimension. Yuzu was someone on her own, a complete soul whom had no quarrels with her own body. But Yuzu and Rin and Ruri and Serena, they were a different kind of complete. They were a complete _set_ , much like a collection of dolls or books. They, together, were Ray. They were not Yuzu. They were not Rin or Ruri or Serena. Instead, they were the end result of a smoothie; the mixture of citrus and limes and grapes and blueberries. Individually, they were four pieces who were made up a group. Together, they were the final product of a project.

It…was weird to think of herself that way. Of all of them in that way.

Sometimes, Yuzu wonders how Yuya feels about it. How he feels about the voices ringing around in his head, how he deals with the pressure of the multiple phantoms pressing up against him. Her body’s occupants are kind, perhaps even sympathetic, but that does not restrain them from interacting with her on a daily basis. They are good people, Yuzu knows, but sometimes she wonders how they were once whole.

Ruri is nice and Yuzu likes her. She’s the most quiet of the bunch, the most wise and perhaps Yuzu’s favorite. She and Ruri get along great, to a point that may be considered as painfully familiar with each other. It helps that they understand each other, that there is a kind of unspoken language that passes between them. Ruri gives Yuzu distance and, as a result, Yuzu is happy to listen to her.

Rin is one of the more outspoken members of the three souls inside her body. There’s something about Rin that can’t be quieted, the way she gushes about every piece of machinery (be it a simple cellphone or the Action Duel Field System) or combs her fingers nervously through her hair. And, while she is definitely more quiet than the brash Serena, she is also a hurricane of words. Rin is easily irritated and, as a result, has bickered ceaselessly with Serena. The two girls, unlike Yuzu and Ruri, are easily riled and thus are often the prime reason for Yuzu’s headache troubles.

Yuzu doesn’t mind either Rin or Serena though. Sure, they make her head pound and sometimes she has to shove an aspirin down her throat to keep the ruckus away, but they mean good. They often don’t realize the trouble they’ve caused until Ruri rears her head, shouting both of them down like the mother both girls have never had.

And Yuzu wonders about that. All three girls have been kept away from their parents for so long that she worries it’s gotten to them. Serena is the one she is concerned for the most, however. The purple-haired girl with the yellow ribbon in her hair was very sharp-tongued, eager to make a fuss about the weirdest of things (“this dress is gold and white, not blue and black!” or “there’s no way a guy on a motorcycle can do those kinds of jumps!”). However, despite her readiness to argue, there was a kind of isolation that distanced Serena from her counterparts. She was often reserved, haughty, and though Yuzu could tell she meant well, Serena was not the type to play pretty with Rin’s constant twittering or Ruri’s quiet commentary. In fact, it seemed that she only listened to Yuzu, and that it was only Yuzu who could keep her reined in. Ruri’s shouts of scolding were only ever effective on Serena when it came to Yuzu’s well-being and any other time she was nagged upon she crossed her arms and dared the pink-eyed girl to continue talking.

But regardless, they’re all her sisters. They share a body and they share a conscious, but Yuzu doesn’t fail to treat each and every one of them. She depends on them like they depend on her. They’re pieces of a greater puzzle and, though each one of them is a complete individual, as a single set they are a _whole_.

~~~

The first thing Yuya notices is the fact that they can swap bodies.

It’s an odd thing, one only discovered accidently after a sudden urge to chase after a cat by Yuto had nearly landed them in jail (thank god Yoko had been with them or else all four of them would’ve been hailed off by police claiming they caught an emo delinquent up to no good). Yuya hasn’t really believed that his body had morphed into another’s until Yuto had taken them all to look into the surface of a puddle. And, sure enough, it was Yuto’s face who looked back and not Yuya’s.

The discovery had stirred up the three boys in Yuya’s body in a _frenzy_. Yugo had immediately wanted to switch to his own body, to go up to Yuzu and demand her to change into Rin because surely if Yuto could appear in Yuya’s place then certainly Rin could appear in Yuzu’s own. Yuto had been more quiet, more thoughtful and rational, but his own desires to see Ruri were pried open by a teasing Yuri. The latter mentioned boy declared no need to take over Yuya’s body except to troll Sora and the others with threats Yuya feared he’d make real. Suffice to say he wouldn’t let _that_ specific cat out of the box just yet.

The red-and-green-haired boy had tried rationalizing with his counterparts, trying to calm them down but it didn’t help that Yugo’s excitement fueled everyone else’s. Yuto, who had still been in control of Yuya’s body, remained idle as Yuya’s mother prodded him for information.

“How did you even transform?” she inquires, hands on hips and looking over Yuto with squinted eyes. “And where’s Yuya now?”

“With everyone else?” Yuto replies, meeting her gaze with a kind of fearful scrutiny.

“Can you switch back?”

 _That_ was a question Yuya very much wanted an answer of. All he knew was that he’d been shoved out of his own body upon Yuto discovering a cat and proclaiming an urge to chase it down and pet it. Yuri had not been impressed and Yugo had been rather surprised that the “emo boy” liked anything regarding animals. Yuto had ignored their mocking for the sake of locating the cat and, somehow, in the process, he’d materialized his own body in the place of Yuya’s.

“ _How do we switch out?_ ” Yugo inquires inside the conscious of Yuto’s mind. The boy sits upon an imagined D-Wheel, his hands on his helmet. His eyes were wide with the endless possibilities of freedom, an invisible tail wagging behind him. “ _If we can switch out then the girls should too! Yuto, Yuto, go to Yuzu! Maybe she can turn into Ruri like Yuya could turn into you!”_

Yuri rubs his chin and gives a haughty laugh. “ _You and you’re obsession with that girl. Which one do you like, anyways? The one that Yuya likes or the one with green hair that can’t seem to shut up?”_

“ _Bastard! Don’t talk about her that way!_ ” Yugo lunges for Yuri.

Yuya grabs Yugo’s riding suit before the boy can perform any decent form of strangulation. Yuri brushes his shoulders off in silent triumph, a smug smile curling onto his lips.

“ _Come on guys, for once in your lives…._ ” Yuya looks up into the void of Yuto’s mind. “ _Yuto, do you think we could try switching back?_ ”

“ _No way!_ ” Yugo dashes forward. “ _Let me have a turn! I haven’t seen Rin in_ ages _!”_

A cold wind blasts past Yugo. The boy steps back with chattering teeth, pouting visibly. It’s clear that Yuto does not approve of Yugo’s desperation.

“I could try switching,” Yuto suggests, his attention turning back to Yuya. “I don’t know how though.”

“ _Maybe, if you could somehow ‘eject’ yourself? That’s how it felt like when I got kicked out. Maybe if you just remove yourself then I could jump back in?_ ”

“Worth a shot,” the boy says with a shrug. From the view outside Yuto’s mind, Yuya saw his mother looking down upon them with a frown. Yuto fills her in and she nods with approval.

“ _Okay, on three?_ ”

“On three.”

 _“One…_ ” Yuya begins.

 _“Two_ ,” Yuri joins in, curling his fingers onto his palm to observe his nails.

“ _Three?_ ” Yugo says, his words more of a confused question than a rhetorical part of a countdown.

There is a great rush of power and then Yuya felt a stabbing pain in what seemed to be his right elbow. He opens his eyes and notices that his mother has caught him inches before his head would have hit the ground.

“Yuya? You’re back?”

“I-I guess,” he looks over his hands.

“ _Cool, it worked. My turn!”_

Yuri rolls his eyes. “ _Unlikely to ever hap-“_

“Sure, give it a try.”

“ _You little fucker,”_ Yuri glares up at Yuya, forming a small pout at the sudden ending to his fun. Yugo gives the violet-haired boy a shit-eating grin and strolls forward with eager pride.

“ _Could we skip the countdown this time_?” Yuto asks. “ _We should try and see if we can do it automatically_.”

“Sure.”

Yuya informs his mother. She holds him in her arms, ignoring the strange given to her from passer-byers. Yoko nods and then beckons Yuya onwards.

He blinks and then, suddenly, he is back in the void of his mind. However, instead of being in the company of Yuto and Yuri he finds himself in the company of Yuto and _Yugo_.

The blue-haired boy looks nearly stunned. His eyes are wide and uncomprehending, glazed over with a kind of disbelief before he shakes and shudders, forming a fist. “ _You effeminate bastard! I swear to god that I will-!_ ”

“You’ll what?” Yuri taps a finger to his lips, almost as if to hush Yugo. Yoko looks down upon him in confusion and he merely smiles. “Sorry, miss. Minor calculation errors.”

“ _Calculation errors my ass,”_ Yugo grumbles. Yuto offers the boy a small pat on the back while Yuya looks up into the scenery that is painted by Yuri’s eyes.

“Yuri, _”_ the boy warns.

“Fine, fine,” Yuri waves a hand and suddenly the vision cuts short. They’re left in blackness until Yugo snaps out of his daze and jumps into the void before him. Their mind flickers with vision as a curtain lifts.

Yugo lifts his hands to stare at them with disbelief. He runs his hand through his mess of a hair and then gives a bubbly smile that sends him to his feet. Yoko watches him with a kind of amusement, smiling to herself as Yugo twirls in excitement.

“Can I go see Ri-Yuzu?” he asks his counterparts. “Please, please, please?”

There’s a kind of desperation that keeps Yuya from deciding it’s a bad decision. He knows Yuto is hoping for the same thing Yugo is and, he figures, it would probably do them more good than harm.

“ _Go ahead,_ ” Yuya gives his approval. Yuri scoffs but says nothing. It’s long since been (silently) agreed upon that Yuya’s word is absolute.

Yoko beckons Yugo onto her motorcycle and the trio of souls watch as he giggles with glee, enchanted by the thrumming of the vehicle and the wind in his hair. He’s like a little child who’s been cooped up too long in the house and Yuya can’t help but let him explore.

After all, it’s not just his body but that of three others, too.

~~~~

The door bell rings and immediately all the girls inside Yuzu’s mind are a-twitter. Guests are by no means a rare commodity to the Hisaragi household but to have a guest in the late afternoon is rarity at its finest.

“Coming!” Shuzo sings, his feet pounding across wooden floorboards.

“ _Is that Shun?”_ Serena asks, on her stomach with her legs swinging back in forth.

Ruri shakes her head, performing a yoga pose. “ _He said he wasn’t coming back until later this week. He usually keeps his word._ ”

Rin sits atop a motorcycle, looking through a pile of cards. “ _Who else then?”_

There’s a momentary pause that lingers too long for Yuzu’s liking. “ _Yuya_.”

“No way,” she says, waving off the idea. “He’s supposed to be in town with his mother today.”

“ _Doesn’t stop him from coming by to say hi,”_ Serena scoffs.

The other two girls nod and Yuzu’s cheeks become dusted with red. She puffs out her cheeks and heads to her door.

“Y-Yuzu!” her father shouts and there’s the sound of footsteps scuffling backwards.

“What is it?” she calls out in alarm, feeling her three phantoms press up protectively around her.

Her father doesn’t answer as a stampede of footsteps hurries up her staircase. In alarm, she reaches for her door handle to shut the door to her room.

A white blur grabs her hand before she can make contact with the doorknob. Immediately, she turns to her violator with wide eyes, ready to pull out a fan if necessary.

Yugo smiles at her.

She startles, falling back and dragging Yugo with her. The boy lands on top of her, grinning despite the situation.

“Y-Yugo?” she asks.

Rin echoes her words, her eyes shining. She holds her hand to her mouth while Serena gapes and Ruri looks like she’s about to faint. Though, Yuzu wonders if the latter is about to collapse from the close proximity of Yugo or the realization that one of their three counterparts could manifest in a physical form.

“Hi, good morning, good noon, good afternoon!” Yugo pulls back and scratches his cheek. “Uh, sorry about that. I didn’t expect to surprise you so much.”

“Are you…really Yugo?”

“I am,” he grabs her hands and shakes them with a kind of excitement. “I have my body back! Well, kind of. Yuya and the rest are still inside me.”

“ _Inside him? Then…what…?”_ Rin tips her head to the side while Serena restores herself to a cross-legged position.

Yuzu repeats her words.

“It’s still so weird, first Yuto switched out with Yuya when he was chasing a cat-“ Ruri giggled, “and then Yuri, the bastard. And then I took control and I could finally move and breathe and I didn’t have to look through Yuya’s eyes anymore and we were – _shut up Yuri!_ ”

Yuzu rolls her eyes. “Focus, Yugo, focus.”

“Right, right. So, anyways, we were wondering if you could do the same thing. Switch out with the other girls, you know?” Yugo’s eyes were wide and pleading, his gaze sparkling.

“I-,” Yuzu touches her chest.

“ _We could try,_ ” Rin said, her gaze reflecting Yugo’s hope. “ _If Yugo can take over Yuya’s body then maybe…maybe I can…and Ruri and Serena…?_ ”

“ _Like I would want to,_ ” Serena huffs, crossing her arms.

“ _Come on,_ ” Ruri sighs and looks to Yuzu. “ _I’d like to see if we can. If…If it’s possible I’d like to see Yuto again._ ”

“Please?” Yugo asks. “I want to see Rin.”

“I…how?” She can’t say no to him.

“Just eject yourself from your body,” Yuya flashes into view, smiling as his hands take her’s. “It’s weird to think of it that way but that’s how I did it. Like this.”

Yuto appears next. He gives a shy, almost startled smile and then Yuri takes his place. He grins a conniving grin and Yuzu yanks her hands from him. He pouts and Yugo takes his place, cursing the violet-haired boy underneath his breath. He turns his gaze to her and waits. Yuzu can’t help but picture a puppy with a tail wagging. Ruri and Rin giggle at the image. Serena rolls her eyes.

“Okay, I guess it can’t hurt me to attempt it.”

“That’s the spirit,” Yugo nods.

Yuzu clasps her hands together and brings them to her chest. Rin and Ruri and Serena watch her, curiosity brimming. Yuya had told her to eject herself from her body but that…that sounded _scary_. The four boys had seemed so in control of their one body but that was because they were probably _used_ to it. They’d shared a body longer than she and her selves had and the fact that they could manifest themselves so quickly was almost astonishing. Could she do it? Could she try? Was she able to? What if it only applied to the boys?

“ _It’s okay_ ,” Ruri’s hand ghosts upon her shoulder. Fingers wipe at her eyes and she realizes she has been crying without realizing it.

“ _We’re here for you,_ ” Serena says, her gaze soft. Rin nodded from Yuzu’s other side.

“I…thanks,” she murmurs. Yugo tilts his head, questions on his lips, but invisible words fly through his eyes and he finds himself slumping into submission.

She nods and then closes her eyes. _Nothingness,_ she tells herself. _If I feel nothingness…then I am nothing._

“ _That’s morbid,” Serena remarks._

“ _Shut up, Serena_.” Rin glares at the girl.

Ruri puts her head in her hands, groaning. “ _Nothingness,_ ” she reminds them, “ _and nothingness means_ no talking _._ ”

Both girls pipe down. Yuzu relaxes, feeling the darkness of her mind. Eject herself…how does she…relieve herself of this body? Does she…sink…sink deep? The mind is dark…their mind is dark and…

She awakes in a void where a world of vivid colors sits like a canvas high above. She sees Yugo looking at her but when she looks at her hands she sees a floor of black, not a floor of rugs and tossed-aside clothes.

Ruri and Serena greet her with uncertain looks. Ruri takes her hand and runs it in-between her own. Serena cocks her head to the side, unsure of how to react, and Yuzu merely leans on her shoulder. Serena raises an eyebrow but says nothing.

Meanwhile, Rin’s voice echoes in her ears.

“Y…Yugo?”

“Rin!” Yugo dives forward, capturing Rin in his arms and tackling her to the ground. Rin laughs, tucking her head into the crook of his neck.

Serena whistles. Yuzu feels her face ignite with red but it isn’t her face that’s burning. Rather, it’s _Rin’s_ face that is blushing. She’s only sharing the sensation.

Yugo suddenly yelps, cursing Yuri and shouting to himself before he waves a hand and pulls back, brushing his thumb across Rin’s cheek.

“I missed you,” he murmurs.

“Me too,” she laughs, placing her hand on top of his. Her eyes glisten and Rin places her forehead on top of his. “Hey, can we stay like this forever?”

“Forever?” Yugo’s eyes stare into her’s. Serena gags while Ruri watches with hands clasped and eyes shiny. Yuzu just…watches, a bit weirded out if nothing else.

Yugo’s eyes flash violet and Yuri appears in his place. Rin instantly recoils, disgust rolling off her. Yuzu shudders, watching as Yuri eyes her – them – with amusement.

“Sorry to end your honey-mooning,” he sniggers and then stands to his feet, cape flying behind him. “Nice show, though. Quite entertaining. But I don’t want to have to feel you two snogging for twenty-four seven.”

Serena pushes her way to the forefront and Rin lands beside Yuzu. The pink-haired girl is almost startled to see the girl quickly take control.

“Back off, asshole,” she growls.

“Touchy,” Yuri eyes her with a sense of disdain. “Hey, Yuzu, keep your guard dog on a leash.”

Yuri is yanked from his position and replaced by Yuya. “Sorry, sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry Serena, Rin, Yuzu. He’s…difficult.”

“So it seems,” Serena scoffs. “You should keep _him_ on a leash.”

“ _Serena!”_ Yuzu shouts. The girl sighs and then shrugs. She switches places with the pink-haired girl.

Yuya rubs the back of his head. “Weird day, huh?”

She gives a half-hearted laugh. “Yeah…”

They sit in silence, fidgeting.

“ _For crying out loud!_ ” Rin nearly shrieks. “ _Your crush is right in front of you, say something!”_

Yuzu shakes her head. “Be quiet,” she hisses.

Her friend tilts his head. “But I-?”

“Sorry, Rin talking.”

“Ah,” he nods. “Listen-!”

She looks at him. “What?”

“I…uh…nothing,” he shakes his head and stands to his feet. “Guess I better get going now, right?”

“But so soon?” Ruri takes Yuzu’s place. The pink-haired girl finds herself on the ground in front of Rin, blinking rapidly.

As if in reaction to Ruri’s appearance, Yuto appeared. There was not a moment of hesitation as the girl rushed to embrace him. Yuto stood, stunned, before awkwardly wrapping his own arms around her.

“Yuto! Yuto! Yuto!” Ruri squealed, her quiet self suddenly burning with passion.

“Hello?” the boy responds.

“I’m so glad! It’s been years now, hasn’t it? Since we…since we last saw each other?”

“It has,” he rests his chin atop her head. There’s a shudder from the girl’s shared body and then Yuzu feels the phantom sensation of tears bubbling down her cheeks.

There’s another quiet moment before Yuto pulls away. Ruri keeps her hand clutching his shirt until he gently guides it away.

“I can’t stay here, Ruri,” he says. “It’s getting late.”

She pulls her hands to her chest. “So it is,” she looks down, biting her lip. “So it is.” She wipes at her cheeks. “I just…”

Yuto sighs. “Don’t worry. We’ll see each other again. Remember, it’s not Heartland.”

“I…right.” She nods and then smiles. “I’ll leave Yuzu in your charge then.”

Ruri flees from the scene and Yuzu appears before Yuto. In the back of her mind, she knows Ruri has her back turned, shoulders hunched. Rin is at her side, whispering quietly to the girl. Serena stands to the side, unsure but gazing at Yuzu.

Yuto lifts an eyebrow but shakes his head. He turns away from her. “Yuya says he’ll be back tomorrow.”

“What are you, a messenger?”

He shrugs, uncomfortable. She dismisses him with a goodbye wave. The purple-and-black-haired boy nods and then disappears out of her room. Her father replaces him, his spirit leaving his mouth.

“Is that…why were…one boy came in and another boy came out… _Yuzu what’s going on_?”

“Dad, those boys were Yugo and Yuto. Be grateful you haven’t seen Yuri yet,” Yuzu chuckles.

“You mean that those two are the ones Yuya always has in his head. Weren’t they supposed to be spirits or something? I mean, I thought they couldn’t become…themselves.”

“Things have changed,” Yuzu moves her arms behind her and gives a sheepish smile. “See, watch.”

She moves back into the darkness and has Serena take her place. Shuzo – Yuzu’s father – stared at the girl with disbelief.

“Yuzu, no, you’re one of the girls, the girls in her head? Of course I mean no offense!”

“Serena, sir,” the girl gave a curt nod, stiffening under his confused gaze.

“ _You don’t have to be afraid of my dad, Serena._ ”

She didn’t respond, merely watching as Shuzo peers over her. Yuzu could feel the way Serena stood, rigid and straight, almost like a soldier.

“It’s nice to have you, Serena,” without warning, Shuzo hugs her. Serena flusters, unused to such attention.

“Thank you?”

“And to the other two girls, if you can hear me, I’ll always welcome you too. Whenever you want to talk, I’ll be here for you. For all of you.”

Rin and Ruri nodded. Serena gave her own nod of confirmation before fading back. Yuzu jumped forward.

Shuzo blinked and then gave a soft smile. “Dinner’s ready,” he said, continuing as if nothing had occurred. “Your favorite.”

“Alright, be down in a sec.”

“Okay,” he began to walk away. “Oh, and, girls?”

“Yes?” they all answered simultaneously in Yuzu’s voice.

“Please try not to make a show with the boys. I realize you all have feelings for them-”

“ _Not me,_ ” Serena huffed.

“But I don’t want any unnecessary actions to occur between you all. You’re all my daughters now and, for as long as I can, I want to protect you all.”

He left with Yuzu blushing, Serena scoffing, Rin giggling and Ruri shaking her head in her hands.

They were all going to get to have to get used to this.


End file.
